TWINE: Matt's Hands-on Impressions

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Shaken and stirred by EA/Eurocom's amazing Bond sequel.

By IGN Staff

It was last year that I first heard about a Bond sequel for Nintendo 64, not from the wacky Joanna Dark groupies at Rare, but rather from another UK developer, Eurocom. I can still remember my initial reaction, which was something to the tune of, "Well, it's great that another Bond title is on the way, but it seems a bit the waste if Rare isn't doing it." It rang true at the time. Would the James Bond license still be the rage, after all, if Rare had delivered a Super Man 64-esque leveled first-person shooter with no originality, no control, and no multiplayer mode? Methinks not. It was the Brits from Rare, Austin Powers-like teeth and all, that made the license what it is today and we've all hammered into our heads that only Rare can make a Bond game right because of it.

But that's not true.

Last week Peer, Aaron and I drove down to Electronic Arts' San Mateo, California based offices to finally sit down and play The World is Not Enough for Nintendo 64. We'd been hearing about the title on and off for a few months; a few whispers from someone who had seen it here, a detail or two from someone who had played it before -- all of the gossip good. But we really had no idea what to expect.

"Wouldn't it be great if it actually compared to Perfect Dark?" I can clearly remember one of us asking on the ride down. Somehow, though, none of us actually believed it would. Perhaps we too, like so many Nintendo 64 owners, were convinced that nobody could do it like Rare could, and that any attempts to try would merely result in visibly second-rate product and laughable gameplay mechanics. Maybe we thought Electronic Arts was using the Bond name to cash in on GoldenEye sales. Whatever our thoughts had been, though, they were changed as soon as EA booted up the first level.

The GoldenEye Factor What didn't you like about GoldenEye? Come on, you can admit it -- the game was, in spite of all its brilliance, not perfect. If you're anything like me, you probably wish the framerate was a little smoother. Maybe the graphics a little sharper? Well imagine all your concerns about the game could be addressed. This, I believe, is exactly what Eurocom's thoughts were when it sat down to design The World is Not Enough for Nintendo's console. The UK developer, which I am certain is easily one of the most underrated software houses creating games in the industry today, has really taken a good, long look at what Rare did with its 3D shooter, tallied up the goods, the bads, and capitalized on it all. Call it a blatant rip-off if you like, call it a tribute to great design -- The World is Not Enough is what GoldenEye would be if it were a third- or fourth-generation game.

Hands-on EA hits the power switch and the game boots up. After a moment of selecting through menus, the first level kicks into action. Wow. It's a huge, wide-open environment with tall buildings stretching to the sky. Crisp texture design, smart architecture and a few enemies running about in the distance. I'm concerned about the framerate at this point because the person who is playing the game really hasn't moved yet -- I'm waiting for slow-motion fluidity to spring forth as soon as he does. To my surprise, though, he starts to explore the immediate area, swinging the camera left, right, up and down -- all with no drop in fluidity. Can this be? A large, detailed level with lighting effects, animated water, moving polygonal characters up ahead, animated gun movements, particle explosions, and a crazy draw distance that the Turok team would kill for, and it's running with a solid framerate. This same scenario would be running at 15 frames per second on the GoldenEye engine. Hell, this same scenario would be chopping along on the Perfect Dark engine!

Okay, you've definitely got my attention now. Show me more.

They do. In the next half-hour, we're treated to a slim, but revealing selection of levels that are very pleasing on the eyes. Real-time shadows on enemies, beautiful reflections on surfaces give off that marble-esque appearance that you thought Nintendo 64 couldn't do without stuttering, gunfire kicks up dust on the ground, and again, all with a draw distance that can't be beat. On a deeper end, we've got enemies that fall off ledges when hit, topple over guard rails, and bounce off rocks before thumping to a dead halt on the ground below. And you thought that was a Perfect Dark exclusive? We've also got enemy AI that happily runs to the nearest mounted gun and immediately fires on you. You've got guards that descend walls via ropes (which you can take out on their way down). You can force guards to surrender and punch them out. You can sniper scope in on enemies miles in the distance. You can flip on your night goggles and watch as foes appear out of the darkness.

Weapons animate deliciously. Lots of over-the-top gun shifts, moving parts, and bullets that fly out in every direction as weapons are fired off. Overall, it was all a bit more stiff than what I've seen thus far in Perfect Dark, but I liked the designs of the guns in TWINE much better. The graphic look is crisper and more detailed.

Eurocom has also included full freedom of movement so you can do a whole lot more than you could in GoldenEye. This means that in addition to running and walking, you can jump, crouch, swim, fall off ledges and ride vehicles. And stealth -- you'll definitely need it. Eurocom has designed the game so that floor surfaces make different sounds when they're been walked over. If you run over a wooden floor, you're going to be loud and the guards will hear you. However, if you crouch, you can sneak up behind them and knock them out. This sort of element is present everywhere. Shadows, for example, shroud you in the darkness and guards can't see you.

Control is super tight and very GoldenEye-inspired right down to the scheme. The standard setup is quite literally exact to that of Rare's first-person shooter, and there are loads of different optional configurations as well (including my preferred Turok-style setup). You can, of course, also configure everything to your liking. Because the framerate is more solid (and with better graphics even!), everything feels more precise. I had no problems hitting the R button for manual aim and taking out some snipers in the distance the first time I played. Nor did I have any problem targeting Peer's head in multiplayer mode and delivering him a professional hit style kill as he wondered where I might be hiding. And don't let Peer tell you any different because he's German and well, Germans are known for lying, especially if their name is Peer Schneider and they say that they killed Matt Casamassina in multiplayer mode.

Multiplayer Speaking of the multiplayer mode, it's equally amazing. I'd like to personally extend my thanks to Eurocom for knowing its priorities here and really balancing out beauty and playability. When you're engaged in a deep multiplayer battle, how often do you stop to admire the scenery? Not often, I would think, and that's why I believe it's more important to have a super-smooth framerate than it is to have fantastic visuals during this particular aspect of a first-person shooter. The World is Not Enough, though, has both beautiful multiplayer environments and a brilliant fluidity. To this, I say can only say, "woo-hoo!"

The arenas themselves are huge and very different in appearance. One level Peer and I played in two-player mode seemed to be focused around a giant hedge-maze. The maze itself was not overflowing with unnecessary architecture -- but it had a clean, well-textured appearance and a solid framerate. Looking up in the sky, we could see crates being dropped to the ground in different parts of the level. These crates were filled with bonus weapons and item pick-ups -- a brilliant idea to be sure. Peer and I quickly turned the gunfight into a race to see who could get the best weapon fastest. It seems the character I was using was slower. Yes, it must have been the character.

All Things Considered I know that there are going to be hardcore Nintendo 64 owners and big-time Rare supporters who simply can't believe that any other developer could do a Bond game justice, but I want to make this very clear: The World is Not Enough has done it. The fact is that this surprise effort is leagues ahead of both Rare's shooters (yes, even Perfect Dark) in terms of technical finesse, and it plays spot-on with GoldenEye in both single-player and multiplayer environments. This is not a rehash game capitalizing on Rare's efforts. It's a spectacular Bond shooter that, even at this very early stage of completion, is demonstrating that Eurocom has hit elite status.